“
You do not know what I will do, and trust me, I would never hurt anyone,” he interrupted.
“
Why should I believe you?”
He hesitated. “You’re puzzled. I know you want explanations, and I am the only one who could give
answers.”
Perhaps it was my cursed curiosity, or perhaps there was something appealing in his pleading
demeanour. I yanked the paper off, and the boy rushed ahead.
“
Hey! You promised!” I yelled. He beckoned me to join him in the middle of the long, curved stairs.
I shuddered at the thought of being too close to a ghost. “I think I’ll just stay here.”
However, after setting the hairpin and a cloth bag onto a step and bowing three times, he approached
me. I stood frozen, watching him float downwards.
“
There,” he shoved a pile of Joss paper into my hands. “Throw it.”
I meekly obeyed, and as they floated through the air, thin and supple, like capricious satin, the boy
bowed three times again, and began his story.
“
I am a ghost. You know that already. Being a ghost isn’t easy. There is no destination, but I’m
different. I have a mission. It ends tonight, at midnight.
Let me start by telling you how I died. The Emperor ordered men from all places to construct the Great
Wall. Father and my older brothers were all taken away. I was fortunate that I was so young.
That, however, left us with no strong, young men to farm. Villagers were starving, and soon, mother
fell ill. I had to think of something.
I had heard that my family had sold a treasured hairpin to some rich folk. Being such a small child, I
was foolish enough to think that I could persuade them to give it back.
It took me about a week to find them, because my only clues were that we shared the same surname.
However, they refuse to see a child. That made me angry. How dare they ignore us, while they had all the food
they needed!”
The boy clenched and unclenched his fist.
I stole it,” he exhaled. “Yes, I had to steal it. It would be dull to go into details, but their butler found
me. He beat me to death, a punishment…for stealing from the honourable Yangs.”
The edges of our silhouettes were blurry against the dark sky, and then the boy spoke, his voice barely
a whisper.
“
I returned as a ghost to my village, and discovered that my whole family had died of famine. This is
their ashes,” he pointed at the bag, “and I have been searching for my brothers. I know they are hidden under the
Great Wall, but I don’t know where exactly. The hairpin,” he nodded at it, “is…my tribute, to my family.”
“
And you’ve found them.”
He nodded and untied the bag of ashes. As they flew up towards the sky in a spiral, disappearing into a
ring of light, he closed his eyes and placed his palm onto the side of the Wall.
“
And now, finally…” he breathed.
We waited, but nothing happened.
He froze. “No, why…why!” he shrieked. “This is the only place…the only possible…”
“
What…what happened?” I stuttered.
“
If I don’t release them in time, then…” before he could finish his sentence, a bell chimed somewhere
far away, announcing that it was midnight. I watched in horror as he faded into the night.
The news of the discovery at the Great Wall was one of the greatest headlines that year. A pile of dead
bodies were found, a few meters from where I stood that night, and it was believed that they were all part of the
same family. The other was the recovery of the Yang’s family treasure, found at the side of the mountains
nearby.
I stood in front of the pit, some years later, staring at a family standing in the middle of the great hole.
They were all men, wearing filthy, grey clothes, traditional Chinese clothes…
Immediately, I understood. The boy must release his family before midnight. After midnight…they
would stay on earth, forever. The gates of heaven will never reopen.
His family looked up at the clouded sky one last time and drifted off, starting another journey. For two
thousand years, they’ve been waiting for a day that would never come.
“
Good luck,” I whispered, as I bid them farewell. “Goodbye,” a young voice cried out from heaven, to
the brothers he would never meet again.
* * *